- Sobek located 7 km directly west of Filo Mining’s Filo del Sol Project and 3 km from NGEx’s Lunahuasi discovery
- Construction of access road to priority drill targets at Sobek Central and Sobek North complete
- Priority drill targets identified by Airborne Mobile MT survey with coincident geochemical anomalies and select high-grade surface samples
- Maiden 3,000-meter drill campaign scheduled to resume in early 2024
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mirasol Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: MRZ) (OTC: MRZLF) (the “Company” or “Mirasol”) is pleased to report that exploration has resumed at the Company’s 100%-owned Sobek Copper-Gold Project (“Sobek” or “the Project”) in the Vicuña Copper-Gold-Silver District of Chile. The field program is currently underway in preparation for the continuation of the maiden drill program that was suspended late last season due to the onset of winter weather (news release dated August 21, 2023). Drilling is scheduled to start at Sobek Central early in Q1 2024, following which the drill is expected to be mobilized to Sobek North.
Sobek was staked by Mirasol in 2016 based on prospective local geology and attractive structural architecture prior to the 2021 discovery of the high-grade feeder zone at the Filo del Sol gold-copper deposit. The Project is located on the same trend and just 7 km to the east of the Filo del Sol deposit and only 3 km to the southeast of NGEx Mineral’s discovery at Lunahuasi (formerly Potro Cliffs).
Figure 1: High-Profile Vicuña Copper-Gold-Silver District Regional Map
“The Sobek project is located in the middle of the high-profile Vicuña Copper-Gold district in northeast Chile, positioning Mirasol adjacent to the north-south trend which hosts Filo del Sol and NGEx’s Lunahuasi discovery,” Mirasol’s President Tim Heenan stated. “We are excited about the high-quality drill targets at Sobek and look forward to resuming the drill program in early 2024.”
Sobek Central – Continuing the Maiden Drill Campaign
Exploration at Sobek is currently well underway with all permits and community access agreements in place. The completion of the new access road has substantially improved exploration crews’ access into the area to continue field evaluation at a much more detailed scale. Exploration activities currently underway include detailed geological and structural mapping, sampling, and alteration analysis along the new road cut where the prospective targets concealed by a thin layer of transported scree cover have been exposed. Electrical IP geophysical surveys to help detect alteration and/or mineralization within the rock units in the sub-surface environment are scheduled to start shortly at both the Sobek Central VN-Zone and the El Potro prospect at Sobek North.
The 500-line km airborne Mobile MT geophysical survey outlined a striking cluster of large oval-shaped anomalies, which are interpreted to represent deeply seated intrusive centers. The Airborne Mobile MT has high-definition depth penetration to greater than 800m depth below surface and has been proven effective in defining targets in high-sulfidation epithermal (HSE) and porphyry systems elsewhere in Chile. Both the VN-Zone and VN-Zone North targets at Sobek Central lie on the peripheral rims of these oval-shaped MT responses.
The priority target at the Sobek Central VN-Zone is scheduled to be drill tested early in Q1 2024, following which the drill is expected to be moved to Sobek North to test the EL Potro Zone target. A combined 3,000 meters of drilling is planned.
Priority Drill Target – Sobek Central – VN-Zone
The VN-Zone was elevated as a high priority target late last season when high gold grades were recovered from prospecting, with results up to 5.0 g/t gold and 2,200 ppm copper sourced from select grab samples (news release dated June 27, 2023). The VN-Zone sits on the northern outer cusp of a very large oval-shaped Mobile MT anomaly, with dimensions of 1.5km x 2.0km which is interpreted to represent a prospective deeply seated intrusive center. With the access road now complete into the VN-Zone, detailed geological and structural mapping and geochemical sampling is underway in preparation for this season’s drill campaign.
Figure 2: Sobek Central - Priority Drill Target at VN-Zone Mobile MT Geophysical Anomaly
A new occurrence of mineralized “M” veins (VN-Zone North) was exposed along the road cut enroute to the VN-Zone. The VN-Zone North is located approximately 1.4 km north-northeast of the VN-Zone and sits on the eastern edge of the northern-most Mobile MT anomaly. Samples collected from the road-cut exposure returned values of 1.37 g/t gold and 663 ppm copper, and 0.54 g/t gold and 411 ppm copper (news release dated June 27, 2023). These strong gold results are all sourced from sheeted “Maricunga Type” quartz-magnetite veinlets with argillized margins. The “M” veinlets contain anomalous values of associated copper mineralization (2,220 ppm), which is typical in Chilean gold-copper “Maricunga Type” porphyry deposits.
Priority Drill Target – Sobek North – El Potro Zone
Sobek North surface exploration is also currently underway over priority targets at the El Potro Zone in the SE corner of the Sobek North claim block, which is located approximately 3 km southwest of NGEx’s new Lunahuasi discovery. Exploration includes electrical surface-based IP geophysics over the recently discovered El Potro East zone which has returned very encouraging geochemical results from rock chip samples, including up to 4.3g/t gold and 26 g/t silver from HSE-type veinlets and silicified breccia structures, located at a topographically higher elevation (+400m) above the more copper/molybdenum porphyry style of mineralization which returned 0.65% copper and 105 ppm molybdenum (news release dated June 27, 2023).
Figure 3: Sobek North - Compelling Drill Target at El Potro Zone Mobile MT Geophysical Anomaly
High-Profile Vicuña Copper-Gold-Silver District
Sobek is located within a prospective geological environment with a compelling north-northeast trending mineralized structural corridor crosscut by a north-northwest trending deep-seated trans-cordilleran lineament. This is a common structural configuration hosting several southern Andes metal deposits in both Chile and Argentina.
The Project comprises a large block totaling 11,120 ha of exploration claims in three strategic locations, the North, Central and South blocks within the Vicuña Copper-Gold-Silver District. The high-profile district includes multiple deposits in close proximity of Sobek, including the Filo del Sol mid-Miocene epithermal porphyry gold-copper deposit 7 km to the east; the recent NGEx discovery at Lunahuasi (formerly Potro Cliffs) 3 kilometers to the east, the Josemaria copper-gold project 10 km to the east-northeast; the Los Helados Porphyry copper-gold breccia system 20 km to the northeast; and the giant Eocene El Morro Porphyry copper-gold deposit 16 km to the west-southwest.
About Mirasol Resources Ltd
Mirasol is a well-funded exploration company with 19 years of operating, permitting and community relations experience in the mineral rich regions of Chile and Argentina. Mirasol controls 100% of the high-grade Virginia Silver Deposit in Argentina and is currently self-funding exploration at two flagship projects, Sobek and Inca Gold, both located in Chile. Mirasol also continues to advance a strong pipeline of highly prospective early and mid-stage projects.
For further information, contact:
Tim Heenan, President
or
Troy Shultz, Vice President Investor Relations
Tel: +1 (604) 602-9989
Email: contact@mirasolresources.com
Website: www.mirasolresources.com
Qualified Person Statement: Mirasol’s disclosure of technical and scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Tim Heenan (MAIG), the President for the Company, who serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.
Forward Looking Statements: The information in this news release contains forward looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry and to policies linked to pandemics, social and environmental related matters. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding future exploration programs, operation plans, geological interpretations, mineral tenure issues and mineral recovery processes. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Mirasol disclaims any obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
